Babadıl Islands (a.k.a. Beşparmak Islands) are two small

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

islands in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. They are named after the former name of the village

Sipahili Sipahili (former Babadıl) is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Gülnar, Mersin Province, Turkey. Its population is 367 (2022). It is situated at the east bank of a creek. It is on the state highway State road D.400 (Turkey), D.40 ...

in the mainland facing the islands. According to the British captain

Francis Beaufort Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (; 27 May 1774 – 17 December 1857) was an Irish hydrographer, rear admiral of the Royal Navy, and creator of the Beaufort cipher and the Beaufort scale. Early life Francis Beaufort was descended f ...

who was tasked to map the Mediterranean coasts of Turkey in 1811–12, the names of the islands were Papadoulae, in the antiquity. Modern scholarship identifies the island group with Akonesiai, and the northern island with ancient Crambusa or Krambousa (Κράμβουσα). The islands are about offshore in

Gülnar Gülnar is a district of Mersin Province of Turkey, south-west of the city of Mersin. Geography The town of Gülnar is inland on a plain high in the Taurus Mountains, attractive countryside known for its vineyards and its green meadows used for ...

ilçe (district) of Mersin Province at . The distance from the coast to Gülnar is about and to

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

is . They are in the eastern end of a bay and are observable from the Turkish state highway which runs mostly along the sea side. The north to south dimension of the northern island is and the north to south dimension of the southern island is . Both islands are uninhabited. But there are remains of a castle and some vaulted tombs from the

Medieval Age In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire an ...

References

Islands of Turkey Islands of Mersin Province Mediterranean islands Gülnar District {{Island-stub